John Adams to Abigail Adams

A very idle, vain Conversation, at a Dinner, has produced you this Letter from a venerable
old Lady, in this Neighbourhood, the Wife of Monsr. Grand the Banker.1

As the Subject was introduced, and according to the turn that the Conversation really
took, there was not so much Vanity and Ostentation on my Part, as you will suspect
from her Account of it. But as I speak french very imperfectly and she understands
not a syllable of English I suppose she did not fully understand me.—All that I maintained
was that it was the Duty of a good Citizen to sacrifice all to his Country, in some
Circumstances. God Grant I may never be called to do this again so often as I have
done already: for I have hazarded all very often and done as much as sacrifice all
sometimes.

You will have a delicate Task to answer her. Write to her in English —she has a son
about five and twenty who is a Master of English and will interpret.2

It is a virtuous Family, and very civil to me and my dear Johnny of whom the whole
Family is very fond.3

We are in deep Concern for America, the last Accounts having left D'Estaing going
to Rhode Island and Ld. Howe after him.

It is high Time for me to write to my Children but hitherto I have { 92 } not had time. I hope you have received twenty Letters from me, in which I have desired
you to draw up[on] me for what Money you want. Yours,

1. The writer was Marie (Silvestre) Grand, wife of Ferdinand Grand (1726–1794), whose banking house in the Rue des Capucins handled financial transactions between
the French government and the new United States (Lüthy, La banque protestante en France, 2:339 and passim). The Grands had a suburban villa in Passy near the residence of the American Commissioners;
see JA, Diary and Autobiography, 2:303.

3. Although Mme. Grand's letter has been lost, its tenor is clear from these comments
by JA and a summary of it in AA's letter to AA2, ca. 11 Feb. 1779, below. It reached AA with the present letter early in February, and she followed JA's instructions in answering it. This answer, which must have been among AA's most interesting efforts of the kind, was enclosed in her reply to JA of 13 Feb. 1779, below. This, however, did not reach JA before he left Paris on 8 March, and the enclosure was ultimately delivered by hand
to Mme. Grand after JA's return to Paris almost a year later; see JA to AA, 27 Feb. 1780, below. Despite its circulation in French as well as English, no version has so far
been found. “Your Letter to Madam G[rand],” John Thaxter wrote AA, “is rendered into French and admired by every one that reads it, for its excellent
Sentiments” (16–27 Feb. 1780, below). Four months later it was still circulating in France and producing “Encomiums
and Tears” (Thaxter to AA, 18 June 1780, below).

Docno: ADMS-04-03-02-0078

Author: Adams, John Quincy

Recipient: Adams, Abigail

Date: 1778-09-27

John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams

[dateline] Passy september the 27th 1778

[salute] Honoured Mamma

My Pappa enjoins it upon me to keep a journal, or a diary, of the Events that happen
to me, and of objects that I See, and of Characters that I converse with from day,
to day, and altho I am Convinced of the utility, importance, & necessity, of this
Exercise, yet I have not patience, & perseverance, enough to do it so Constantly as
I ought. My Pappa who takes a great deal of Pains to put me in the right way, has
also advised me to Preserve Copies of all my letters, & has given me a Convenient
Blank Book for this end; and altho I shall have the mortification a few years hence,
to read a great deal of my Childish nonsense, yet I shall have the Pleasure, & advantage,
of Remarking the several steps, by which I shall have advanced, in taste, judgment,
& knowledge.1 a journal Book & a letter Book of a Lad of Eleven years old, Cannot be expected to
Contain much of Science, Litterature, arts, wisdom, or wit, yet it may Serve to perpetuate
many observations that I may make, & may hereafter help me to recolect both persons,
& { 93 } things, that would other ways escape my memory. I have been to see the Palace & gardens
of Versailles, the Military scholl at Paris, the hospital of Invalids, the hospital
of Foundling Children, the Church of Notre Dame, the Heights of Calvare, of Montmartre,
of Minemontan, & other scenes of Magnificense, in & about Paris, which if I had written
down in a diary, or a Letter Book, would give me at this time much Pleasure to revise,
& would enable me hereafter to Entertain my Freinds, but I have neglected it & therefore,
can now only resolve to be more thoughtful, & Industrious, for the Future & to encourage
me in this resolution & enable me to keep it with more ease & advantage my father
has given me hopes of a Present of a Pencil & Pencil Book in which I can make notes
upon the spot to be Transfered afterwards in my Diary & my Letters this will give
me great Pleasure both because it will be a sure means of improvement to myself &
enable me to be more entertain[in]g to you.

RC and LbC (Adams Papers); aside from better paragraphing in LbC, the differences between the two texts are negligible. Text is given here in literal
style.

1. JQA's earliest surviving diary (D/JQA/1) was begun on 12 Nov. 1779, the day he left Braintree
for Boston to board the French frigate La Sensible for his second voyage to Europe. But he had begun a letterbook some months before
he wrote the present letter; see above, JQA to TBA, 29 May, note 1.